In a world saturated with social media follows and superficial connections, we're challenged to reconsider what it truly means to follow Jesus. This message confronts the uncomfortable reality that our culture has cheapened the concept of followership into something requiring no commitment, no cost, and no transformation. We're invited to examine the diverse responses to Jesus' call throughout the Gospels—some followed immediately with abandon, others hesitated, some were awestruck, while others walked away sad. The central tension emerges: are we admiring Jesus from a distance, or are we truly walking with Him daily?
Drawing from Genesis 31 and Ezekiel 20, we see how God's people throughout history have responded to His call by secretly pocketing their old securities—Rachel stealing her father's household gods 'just in case,' Israel carrying Egyptian idols into the Promised Land as backup plans. We do the same today, lining our pockets with unforgiveness, past hurts, need for control, comfort-seeking, and self-reliance. Jesus' instruction to the 72 disciples to take nothing—no wallet, no bag, not even sandals—reveals that following Him requires traveling light.
The call to 'take up your cross daily' isn't a one-time heroic moment but an ongoing, perpetual death to self. This year, we're invited to empty our pockets of what Jesus never asked us to bring: endless content consumption instead of transformation, disembodied connection instead of incarnational relationship, speed and novelty instead of slow faithfulness, and self-generated identity instead of our transformed identity in Christ.
Discussion questions:
1. What does it mean to truly follow someone versus simply admiring them from a distance, and how does this distinction apply to your relationship with Jesus?
2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that when Christ calls us, he bids us come and die. What does this daily death to self look like practically in your life right now?
3. The Israelites brought their Egyptian idols into the Promised Land despite God's deliverance. What old securities or comforts are you still clinging to even after experiencing God's faithfulness?
4. Which of the four invitations resonates most with you: leaving behind content consumption, disembodied connection, speed and novelty, or self-generated identity? Why?
